


Through the Veil

by faewm



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, dumbles bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:26:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25068376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faewm/pseuds/faewm
Summary: Sirius falls through the veil, Harry follows. They wind up somewhere new. Knowing there's no way back, they seek to help their world as best they can. Just a quick one-shot.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 130





	Through the Veil

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I know I should be working on Reclaiming the House of Black, and I am. I have half the next chapter written, but this would not leave my mind.   
> It’s only a one-shot. I might come back to it, like I did a few of my others, but for now it stands alone. As with all my stories, if you want to pick it up, go for it. Just drop me a link, and credit me.

Sirius Black woke up confused. The last thing he remembered was getting hit with a red spell, by his bitch of a cousin, and falling backward. He was sure he was dead, but his breathing negated that. He sat up and looked around. He didn’t recognize anything.

He was in a room that had six beds, and quite a bit of muggle machines. There was even one taped to his arm. ‘What the name of Merlin is this?’ he thought, reaching to take a long thin something out of his arm.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said a female voice off to his right.

“Oh, why not?” the still confused man asked, turning her way.

She was a middle-aged woman, who had her blonde-grey hair up in a bun. She was dressed in light clothes, that looked like linen. Blue pants and matching tunic, both with pockets that were full of things. He had no idea what they were or what they were for. She even had something hanging from her neck.

‘Must be muggle,’ he thought, looking her up and down.

“It’s putting the potions you need into your body,” she answered, bustling over to his bed. “If you take it out, then I’ll have to get a new one and put it back in. Just leave it there,” she finished, looking over the IV. It seemed to be okay.

“Potions?” Sirius inquired; he was certain this was a muggle hospital.

“Yes, potions. You were quite banged up when you got here,” she answered, giving him a tight smile. “We almost lost you a few times, so keep this in, okay?” she added a bit more firmly.

“Where is here?” Sirius asked, looking around the white room once more. A few of the other beds were occupied, and he was surprised to see Harry in one of them. “Harry!” he shouted, trying to get up from the bed to check on his godson.

“Shh,” the nurse admonished, grabbing his shoulder and pushing him back on his bed. “He needs his sleep. He’s been at your side since you got here,” she said, giving the sleeping boy a kind smile. “He wore himself out. You’ve been in a coma for a week,” she finished, then fussed with his IV again.

“A week, huh? Well, that’s better than dead I reckon,” the dogman said, laying back down, but still looking at his godson. He wasn’t sure if he was happy the teen was here, or sad that Harry had jumped through the veil after him. He knew that Dumbledore said that Harry was vital to the war against Voldemort. Still, he wasn’t alone here, and maybe they could figure out a way to get back.

“It’s a one-way trip,” the still unnamed nurse answered his unasked question, giving him a sad smile.

“Did you just read my mind?” the bedridden man asked, narrowing his eyes at her, knowing that should be impossible. He was a Master Occlumens, his shields were quite powerful. Not even Dumbledore could pass them. He still had no idea why the headmaster didn’t let him teach Harry. Something about trusting Snape of all people. From what Harry said, that was the worst decision that the man had made. He was a bit miffed at that.

“No, it’s the first thing all those who make the trip here ask. Even young Harry did. Besides asking how you were, it was his first question. He didn’t take it well,” she said, looking sadly at the sleeping teen.

“Where is here? You never answered that,” Sirius inquired again. He eyed the woman tending him and raised an eyebrow.

“That’s a complicated question,” she replied, tapping her chin in thought. “The short answer is that you’re in London. The long answer is you’re not in your London. You have been brought to a different London. We get a few of you every now and then. Most of the time those brought here are locked up right away. Harry vouched for you though. And since we don’t lock up kids, we questioned him, with a truth spell, and found out that your being here was an accident,” she said, patting the man on the shoulder when his face fell.

“Are you sure there’s no way back?” he asked, hoping beyond hope that there was a way.

“We are very powerful mages, but not even our best can figure out to get you lot home,” was the soft answer.

“Oh, you’re magical here?”

“Yes, but not like your magic. We don’t need wands, and our power is from the earth, not our core,” she explained, sitting on the foot of the bed, facing him. “It’s hard to explain, but on this earth, there is magic in the air. _You_ can, with some effort, also use that magic. Everyone on this earth is magical and we all learn from the moment we can talk to use that magic. Those that appear here from your world, if they aren’t locked away, are taught to use this magic.”

“Okay, if you are so powerful, then how come you can’t get us home?” he asked, getting excited and frustrated at the same time.

“We don’t know where your home is. There are thousands upon thousands of realities. Picking yours would be a monumental task,” she replied, rubbing her forehead, like she was saying the same thing she had said hundreds of times before, and was tired of repeating herself.

So, what, you’re like the magical pitstop?” he asked, incredulously.

“More like the final destination,” she rebutted.

“Can we look at your books and see if we can’t find a way? Harry there, needs to get back to our reality. He is needed for our war,” Sirius stated sadly. He hated that it all fell on Harry’s shoulders, but Dumbledore was unwavering about that. He never told them why, just that that’s the way it was.

“I’m sorry, did you just say that that teen is the catalyst to the end of your war?! That young scrawny, beaten, abused child is the end to your war?!” her voice rose with every word, until the other patients, including Harry woke. “What kind of people are you that put your hopes on a child’s shoulders?! That’s barbaric,” she hissed, then stood up and went to Harry, leaving behind an ashamed man.

“What’s going on? Why are you yelling at Sirius?” Harry demanded, sitting up on the bed and swinging his legs over the side.

“I’m angry that your world thinks you should be fighting a war. You are not old enough to pick up a gun, let alone point your… wand at someone with the intent to kill. Just what kind of society did you come from?” she asked, picking up his wrist and taking his pulse.

“Not a very good one, I can tell you that. I’m sorry I can’t go back, yet at the same time, I’m happy. I never wanted all the crap they loaded on to me. However, I will miss my friends, and most of my stuff and my money is there. So, yeah,” he said lamely, shrugging in resignation.

“Pfft, well, we can set you up here. You said earlier you have a few things tucked in your pouch, so we’ll see what we can do to sell what you want. Then get you into a good remedial school, so you can learn our ways,” the still unnamed nurse said, mussing up his hair.

“Thanks, Helen, I’d better talk to Padfoot,” he said, squeezing her shoulder and going to Sirius’ bed.

“You want to stay here?” the bedridden man asked, a look of surprise on his face.

“It’s not so bad. At least they are up with what muggles are in our world. Magic doesn’t interfere with electricity. Helen said that is all hogwash and propaganda. They’ve never had an issue,” Harry said, leaning down and giving his godfather a hug.

“Huh,” was all the man said, returning the hug.

“I was so worried about you. I ran to the veil as soon as you fell through. Remus tried to stop me, but he couldn’t get a good grip. I shimmied out of my robes and ran after you. I don’t want to be in a world without you. You’re family,” Harry said, sitting on the side of the bed, his hips touching Sirius’, like he needed the physical contact to know the man was alive.

“I’m not sure how I feel about that,” the other man confessed. “On one hand, I’m glad you are with me. On the other hand, you left everything you knew, and that saddens me,” he added, tilting his head to the side questioningly.

“Sirius, what has Dumbledore told you about my home life?” the teen asked, settling down for a long talk.

“He told me that your Aunt was taking good care of you,” the confused man said, going over all that he was told about the boy. No one ever said that the teen before him was abuse, but that nurse, Helen, said he was. He had trusted Dumbledore all his life, but now he was having doubts.

“There is no easy way to say this,” Harry sighed, pulling his hand through his hair. “They beat me. They starved me. They worked me like a house elf. They never, and I do mean never, had a kind word to say to me. Sirius, I didn’t even know my name until I went to school. And I’m sure they wouldn’t have even sent me, if it weren’t the law,” he sighed again, only this time there was a bitter tint to it. “Worse, they shoved me in a boot closet the first ten years I was there. My eyes are ruined because of that. My bones, and skin are also in terrible shape. I can fix these things, but it will take a while.”

The poor ill man laid on his bed with a completely gobsmacked look. He stared at Harry, weighing what he was seeing to what he had heard. It took only a few minutes for that gobsmacked look to turn to pure rage. He tried to sit up again, but Harry pushed him down firmly with a hand to his chest.

“They aren’t here. There are no Dursley’s in this London. I had them check,” the teen said, smiling at that fact, and the fact that Sirius believed him. He had worried. Dumbledore had brainwashed all his followers. Sirius was no different.

“Good thing then,” Sirius growled out, still going over ways to kill Harry’s relatives.

“Sirius, there’s more. You see, when we came through the veil, you were close to dying. They brought you here, and fixed whatever spell that bitch put on you. Then they did a deep scan and blood test. You have been potioned, and Obliviated. There are many holes in your memories. Now, some of that is from your time in Azkaban, but more of it is recent. They want to talk to you about bringing them back, but you need to get better first,” Harry said, looking his godfather dead in the eyes, so that he could see that Harry was serious.

“What potions?” Sirius wanted to know, holding on to his temper by his metaphysical fingertips. 

“One that makes you loyal to Dumbledore and the Order, and one that keeps you confused. You were doing pretty good at taking care of yourself when you were on the run, but once you settled into the home you hate, you stopped caring,” the teen said, patting the man’s hand.

Sirius had to ponder that a few moments, going over everything that happened when he returned to his mother’s house. After some contemplation, he knew Harry was right. He let everyone walk all over him. They stole his stuff, threw it away, and generally made him feel worthless. And he let it happen. He was so ashamed of himself right now.

“Don’t feel bad,” Harry said, breaking him out of his downward spiral. “Anything you did while whammied, as they like to call it here, was not you. It was the potions. So, I bet all the money I have… had in Gringotts, that Snape brewed them, and Dumbfuck made him,” he added with a snarl.

“Yeah, now that I’m looking back, I’m sure that everyone in that house was… whammied, as you say. I know Remus was acting out of character, but I was so happy to have him around, I overlooked it,” Sirius said, with a choked sob. He was never going to see his best friend again. That and the man was still under Dumbledore’s thumb.

“I know, I think he got my friends too,” Harry said, holding back his own tears. He had already been through his grief over that while Sirius was recovering.

“There’s nothing we can do?” the man asked with desperation in his voice.

“No, not unless they come here. There’s no way to send a message. Like Helen said, they don’t know which reality we come from,” Harry said, shaking his head, resigned.

“Can we send messages to all of those worlds like our own?” the tired man asked, grabbing on to a bit of hope.

“Helen,” Harry called to the nurse, who was finishing checking vitals of one of her patients. He sat up a bit, hoping that maybe they could.

“Be there in a second,” she said, putting her stethoscope on her neck. She wrote something down on the chart and came to the duo. “What’s up?” she asked, standing at the foot of the bed.

“Sirius wants to know if we can send warning to all the worlds like ours. Something along the line of ‘Watch out for Dumbledore. Get checked at the hospital.’ Or something like that,” the teen asked, scanning her face to see her reaction. “Maybe even put in a line that if you have a Harry Potter, and Sirius Black missing, call through the veil, or something. Who knows, if someone sits and shouts through the opening, we might be able to pinpoint our world.” He shrugged, not too overly excited to get home. Still, maybe they could send his stuff through. Sirius’ too.

“I… I don’t know,” she said, tapping her chin. “It might be possible, but… well, I’ll have to ask. That is not in my field of study,” she said kindly, but taking a phone out of her tunic and tapping on it for a few minutes. When she was done, she pocketed it. “Someone will come see you in a few,” she said, giving them reassuring smiles, and then went to tend another patient.

“What was that thing?” Sirius asked, his eyes narrowed, like it had been some kind of weapon.

“It’s a phone, a touch phone,” Harry answered. “It’s a bit more advance than the ones from our London, but it’s still a phone. She let me play on it a few times. It’s pretty nifty,” he added with a grin. It had been wicked to see the things that he could do once he and Sirius were settled.

“I’ve never seen the like,” the dogman said, watching Helen walk away.

“Yeah, like I said, we don’t have things like that at home. If we stay here, we’ll learn to use that stuff,” Harry said, thinking of all the wicked stuff he had seen on the room’s telly.

“I wonder why it was bandied about that electricity didn’t work around magic. Do you think that it’s just our type of magic?” Sirius asked, deep in thought.

“No, like is said, it’s all propaganda, I used my magic directly on that phone, it did nothing to it,” Harry said with a shrug. He had had a week to get used to the idea that the whole of the magical world back home had been lied to. He ranted and raged for a good few days, then decided there was nothing he could do to change it, and let it go.

Still, if they went back home, he’d make sure all and sundry knew it was false. He might get the muggleborns to put up a fight. Maybe a sit in, or something. Something to contemplate. He wasn’t going to be gutted if they stayed.

The two thought about their situation for a while, simply enjoying each other’s company, while their minds whirled on their own thoughts.

About a half an hour later, a man walked in. He looked around the room and approached Helen. She smiled at him, called him Doctor, and then waved him to the two who wanted their question answered.

“This is Dr. Frank, he can tell you what you need to know,” Helen said, leading the doctor to them. “He’s a scientist in the R&D department. They’ve been studying all those who come here, like you did. If there’s an answer, they’ll find it,” she added with a proud smile. The doctor nodded to her, and she went about her business.

“Hello, Dr. Frank, I’m Harry Potter, this is my godfather, Sirius Black,” Harry said, shaking the man’s hand.

“Good to meet you,” the doctor said honestly. “Helen said you had a question.” He took the chair by the bed, opposite of Harry.

“Sirius wanted to know if we can send a message, or two, to all the worlds that have a certain person in them. Like Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. There’s can’t be too many people in all the realities that have that name,” Harry said, scooting over a bit so he could see the man’s face.

“Well, that is quite a name, I’ll give you that. What kind of message would you send?” the man asked, taking out his own phone to take notes one.

“One to warn people that the man is not to be trusted,” Sirius answered with a growl.

“Okay, I can see you were hurt by your Dumbledore, but you have to understand, not all the Dumbledores will be… like yours. There is always one pivotal moment that shapes a person’s life. Say if you had done something when Harry was a baby, like after his parents died, or even preventing that, then Harry would be a completely different person. Or if someone else did something else, Harry here, might be the next Dark Lord, or some such thing,” Dr. Frank explained the best he could with what little he knew about them.

“Okay, can we pinpoint these… realities enough to warn those that have a bad Dumbledore? Like all the Hogwarts that have a Severus Tobias Snape in them. I know if Albus was a good man, that man would be locked up for all he had done,” Harry pondered, rubbing his scar in nervous habit.

“Possibly,” was all the answer they got as Dr. Frank was tapping things on his phone.

“There is one thing I’d like to send out, a message that if they are missing both of use, can they send us our stuff. We’d have to add it is a one way trip,” Sirius said, he too was thinking that he didn’t want to go home, but if they could get their things then maybe they could make a good life here.

“Again, possibly. But, could you trust those on the other side. Of course, we could target all the Gringotts, I think your bank is called. That would be doable,” the man said, still tapping away on his phone. “Your society, does it have a radio station?” he asked, looking up to see their faces.

“Yeah, the Wizarding Wireless,” Harry answered, thinking over how that would help.

“We also have a Floo system. It is in every house, and business, like the Ministry and the bank,” Sirius added helpfully.

“Floo system?” the doctor asked, having never heard that term.

“It’s a bunch of fireplaces, that are all hooked together. You can talk to someone, like you would on a phone, or you can step into the fireplace, with Floo Powder, and go to the other place,” Sirius answered, since he knew more about them.

“But isn’t the Floo regulated through the Ministry?” Harry asked, not wanting them to know where they were, even if they couldn’t bring them home.

“We might have to study this and narrow it down, but I think it’s doable. Let me and a few others, do some checking and we’ll get back to you,” Dr. Frank said, putting his phone away and standing. “I’ll let you know what we find out,” he added, shaking each of the others’ hands, and then left the room.

“I have a question,” Sirius said after a minute of silence. “If these guys are so good at magic, why am I still in bed?”

“Helen,” Harry called again. He had no idea how to answer that.

“Coming,” she said from the other side of the room. She walked over, when she was done doing whatever it was, she was doing. “Again?” she said playfully.

“Sirius wants to know why you haven’t fixed him up completely. I don’t think he’s ever been in the hospital before,” the teen said, standing up so she could check her patient.

“A few times, at Hogwarts,” Sirius corrected with a chuckle. “However, Madam Pomfrey always had us up and going in a matter of days,” he said, turning to Helen with a cocked eyebrow.

“Well, we found out years and years ago that fast healing like that had long-term aftereffects. If you take it slow, there’s less chance of messing up your central nervous system. The human body is not meant to have that much magic forced on it. So, we use IVs to give potions, well, most potions, and regular monitors to check vitals. Sometimes when one is given potions too quickly, they can go into cardiac arrest,” she said, looking over them to see if they were getting what she was saying. Seeing Sirius’ face, she added, “Their heart will stop.”

Harry couldn’t help but chuckle at Sirius’ horrified face. Sure, it wasn’t right, but that look, he couldn’t help it.

“Don’t worry, you will be out of bed tomorrow. Then you can go to the Ministry to tell how you got here, and what you want to do next,” she said, putting her stuff back in her pocket and checking the lead lines to make sure it was all doing well. It was.

“Thanks, Helen,” Harry said, giving her a beaming smile.

“No problem. I’m happy to help,” she said, walking by him and musing his hair.

“I’m going to lay back down. I’m dead tired,” Harry said, reaching down and hugging his godfather again.

“Sleep well, Harry,” Sirius said, releasing the hug and watching the boy walk away. He laid there thinking about all he had learned. It was a long time before Morpheus came for that Black.

After Sirius was released the two were taken to the government offices and interrogated under truth spells. When the Minster got all the answers he wanted, they were set up in a flat. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it had two bedrooms, a bath, a kitchen/dining room, and a common space. Small but cozy. They were also allotted a computer; which Harry used to stun and delight his godfather.

They learned a lot about this world. There were no separate worlds here, no hidden communities, just one big world. Everyone was magical and they all got along, as best as humans always did.

It was by no means a utopia, but it was not a bad place. There were wars, like back home, and there were treaties, as well. Governments were pretty much the same, sans magical ministries. Commerce was different, in that everyone used the same money, but prices were different pending on where you lived.

It was a month later that Dr. Frank got back to them. They had figured out how to send the messages. One would go straight to all Gringotts, all they had to do was scry for the name. Once that message was sent, they waited. A few weeks later, after living off the dole, they did get their stuff.

It just appeared out of nowhere, much like they had. All of the gold from their vaults were sent. It was a good thing that goblins were honorable. There was a message that stated the only reason they did was because of way the two had disappeared. It meshed with what the goblins knew. And since both were orphans, so to speak, the goblins had no problem handing it all over.

Sirius was tickled pink that the Malfoy’s had been, well not cheated, but relieved of getting his money.

“How did you just get Gringotts?” Harry asked, picking up things and putting them in his pouch, which had been charmed limitless.

“How do I explain this?” Dr. Frank said mostly to himself. “You know how cellphones work now, right?”

“Vaguely,” the teen answered.

“Okay, how about echolocation?” the doctor tried a different route.

“Again, vaguely,” was the answer.

“Okay, what we did, in layman’s terms, was send out a pulse of magic towards the direction in the rip in realities. It traveled the worlds, like a point me charm, when it found what it was looking for, in this case Gringotts, the message would appear in words in the air, like a text message, telling them what you wanted, and how to accomplish this,” he explained as best he could. It was much more complicated than that, but that was the bare bones of it.

Harry laughed, he pictured in his head the reaction of the goblins, when the words appeared. Then he chuckled some more on the image of a platoon of goblins marching in the Ministry and going to the Veil of Death. He shared his thoughts with Sirius, who also laughed.

A few days later, now that they knew it would work, the government sent the other messages, to the British Magical Ministries, those that had Severus Tobias Snape as a Potions Professor at Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry. It warned the head of the Auror Departments to check certain people for the loyalty potions.

What those worlds did with that message, they wouldn’t find out until years later. Harry could only hope that it helped. The messages were tagged with Harry’s name, so that might add credence to what was being said.

Sirius and Harry learned the new way of magic. Their wands became precious keepsakes, and they flourished in this new world for years. It was ten years later that they were called to the Ministry.

“I wonder what they want with us?” a much older Harry asked. He had had to take the day off college. Not that it bothered him that much, a break from studying was always a good thing.

“Don’t know,” was the lazy answer. Sirius was very much a man of leisure. He spent most of his time sitting on pool sides and watching/catching the eye of women.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Harry said, knocking on the Minster’s door. They heard ‘enter’, and walked in.

There sitting in a chair in front of the desk was a blonde lady, who had huge blue eyes. She turned to see who had come in, and upon recognizing Harry, she jumped up and ran to him. She grabbed his arms and pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

“Luna?” Harry said, bewildered.

“Oh, Merlin, Harry, you have been missed,” Luna said, releasing him and holding him at arm’s length. “You look good,” she added, looking him up and down.

“Um, thanks. What are you doing here?” he asked, peering at her face, as if it had the answers.

“I jumped through the veil, silly,” she replied as if it were obvious. Which in retrospect it was.

“But, why?”

“I needed to tell you that your message changed the world.”

“Oh?” he asked, hoping it was good news.

Yes, you see once we realized that you were alive somewhere, Dumbledore tried to compel everyone to find a way to bring you back. Even if your message said it was impossible. No one listened to him,” she said, tucking some hair behind her ear, still standing in front of the two travelers.

“Sounds like something he’d do,” grumbled, both Sirius and Harry.

“Quite right,” she said, nodding in agreement. “Your message was on the front page of the Daily Prophet. The next day St. Mungo’s was flooded with people who wanted to be checked for potions. Everyone was, well, almost everyone.”

“How the hell did that happen?” Harry asked, looking toward Sirius, who looked just as confused as he was.

“We found out it was in the water supply. Almost everyone was under it to certain degrees. Those that conjured their own water, like the Aurors, weren’t under the influence. They just thought Dumbledore was a great man on their own. Not all of them of course, but a good few,” she explained, sitting back in her chair, facing the two men.

“The water supply, don’t we… you get that from the muggles?” Sirius asked, wondering if there were millions of muggles wondering who they were supposed to be loyal too.

“No,” she said, looking at him weirdly, “the water is controlled by the ministry. You didn’t know that?” she asked confused.

“No, why would I care where my water comes from?” he returned.

“Anyway,” she said, turning away from Sirius, “once this all came into the open, we found out that Riddle was also potioned, but with an alchemist brew. Dumbledore has set him up to be evil. He said, when they questioned him, that he needed a Dark Lord to fight. To make sure that the potions had something to work with. If they thought he was this great pillar of light, then they wouldn’t fight the effects. It worked, until we got your message,” Luna said, putting her clenched hands in her lap.

“Okay, that’s bad and all. And I’m glad we helped, but again, why are you here? You didn’t need to come and tell us, really,” Harry said, grabbing her hands and holding them supportively.

“Daddy died,” she said softly. “After you left, the others, bar Neville, wanted nothing to do with me. So, I graduated, kept up the Quibbler, and spent some time with Neville. Then Neville died, he confronted Dumbledore, and Snape killed him,” she explained in a whisper, tears rolling down her face.

“Wait, why weren’t they in prison?” Sirius asked.

“It was decided, by those in charge, that Dumbledore would not be arrested until Riddle was gone. The alchemy potion he was under was untreatable. He was a lost cause. In their great wisdom, they felt since you were out of reach, they had to rely on the Headmaster,” she said angrily.

“Tell me they at least fired him from Hogwarts,” Harry pleaded, knowing what the answer was.

“No, and since it was found out that the water supply was tainted, he started messing with the pumpkin juice. This time, however, the potions weren’t as strong. Instead of out right control, it was a nudge. It didn’t work as well as he had hoped, and Neville, angry that he was still trying to control the world, came to the school and confronted him. It was the day most left Hogwarts. Dumbledore stood up for Snape, and over half of the student body walked out,” Luna stated, wiping her tears and raising her chin proudly.

“Good for them,” Harry said, squeezing her hands. “Did it all work out in the end?” he asked, wanting to cut the story short, so she didn’t hurt anymore.

“Yes, Dumbledore killed Riddle, it was a huge battle, right on the lawn of Hogwarts. When Riddle was dead, Dumbledore turned on Snape. It happened so fast, and was completely unexpected,” she said, with a shake of her head.

“Is he dead now?” Sirius asked, leaning forward in his chair, completely enthralled.

“Yes,” she said stiffly, “When he turned his wand to Ron; Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, Professor Lupin, and few others, all fired spells at him. I wasn’t there, but I saw the memory,” she said, finally smiling again. “From what I understand, none of them trusted him. They only fought next to him so that Riddle would finally be free, well, dead, but free,” she added, extracting her hands and putting them in her lap.

“So, Dumbles _is_ dead? You’re certain?” She nodded. “Good,” was all Harry said.

“So you see, I had nothing to live for, and I knew that if I jumped in the veil then I’d come to you,” Luna said, looking around the room and not looking at Harry, or Sirius.

“Well, you can live with me for now. I have a flat off campus. There’s a lot you need to learn, but you’re a smart one, so it’s okay. We’ll help you as much as we can,” Harry said, looking towards the Minster, who hadn’t spoken since they came in. The man nodded and Harry stood, helping Luna up.

“Thank you, Harry Potter,” she said, slipping back into her dreamy state. “It’s going to be alright,” she added, leaning towards him and kissing him on the cheek.

And it was.


End file.
